Another DI Student Community Partnership Project Provides Design Solutions for a Community Center in Eastlake, San Diego

Imagine a community center at the center of a quiet country club in south county San Diego…broad patios, mature landscaping, the reflection of the sky in a large swimming pool and the characteristic sounds of a friendly tennis match in the distance. These are some of the first impressions the students from Dr. Clitheroe's Environmental Psychology class shared when they arrived at Eastlake Greens Country Club to interview Nancy Lehman, Operations Manager, and Sonja Garrett, Community Director. The site visit began with a tour of the existing club house, pool area and patios. Built in the 1970's, the style, color palette and finishes of the building's interior and exterior were outdated and in need of a new look. During the interview, Lehman and Garrett expressed their desire to have the student designers consider new ways of utilizing the poolside patio area as well as suggest ideas for updating the buildings - inside and out - and for using a street-facing section of lawn for a new patio area.

After touring the grounds, taking photographs, checking measurements and reviewing copies of the site and floor plans provided, the three student teams began discussing how they might best integrate the principles of environmental psychology and their interior design skills to solve a real-world design problem. Using research techniques learned in their Environmental Psychology class - such as interviews, on-site observations and comparative studies of similar properties - each team of student designers began to formulate preliminary ideas about how the Eastlake Community experience could be enhanced both functionally and aesthetically. In the weeks that followed, the design teams met in and out of the classroom to discuss and analyze their research findings in preparation for a preliminary design presentation to the clients. Realizing the importance of creating a compelling brand, teams worked to organize a presentation that would best inform their clients of their unique design recommendations. Anxious but excited to share their ideas, each design team introduced a proposed aesthetic theme and a series of design recommendations in an in-class presentation held on the Design Institute campus.

With the preliminary presentation behind them and with a substantial amount of feedback from the clients, the teams were now poised to meet their next challenge: to respond to that feedback with a final series of presentation boards. On December 14th, Lehman and Garrett arrived on campus for the final presentations from the three design teams: Team LiNK iNC (Laura Covarrubias, Natasha Estes and Katie Swinburne); Team Sail East (Morgan Hennington, Keating Hurd and Mariela Mosqueria) and Team Clarity Concepts (Ahmbra Austin, Sara Ford and Kayleigh Lane). Each team's presentation was impressive and unique. The responses and comments of the clients made it obvious that they were going to find it difficult to decide between LiNK iNC's cozy, rustic environment using stone, wood and metal; Sail East's contemporary artistic spin or Team Clarity Concept's glamorized interpretation of classic nautical. However, Lehman and Garrett, did not have to make the final decision: as representatives of the Eastlake II Homeowners Association, it was now their task to take the team presentations to the Homeowners Board. Acting as proxies for the design teams, Dr. Clitheroe and Dr. Denise Homme met during the holiday break with the Board of Directors. The Board's response was unanimous - the Design Institute teams had done an outstanding job. Now it's up to the Homeowners Board to make their final decision. As of this writing, three outstanding design solutions for a new and improved Eastlake Greens are under consideration. What will the Board of Directors decide? Stay tuned!